Album Review: Becca?s Latest Titled Album, Time 4 Me

0

Becca

Becca

World music is now more about who is making music from their heart, rather than who is using their head. The huge commercial successes of Adele, Taylor Swift, Frank Ocean, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar are a proof to that often argued truth.

With an advertorial intro that sounds least like she was giving prop to a business interest, you will expect Becca to try to prove to the world why it took her just an album to grow through stardom into an icon.

Proving whatever was obviously the last thing on her mind as she made her second album, ?Time 4 Me?.

I guess she thought, ?boy, let me just enjoy myself making the music I love and hope people enjoy it too? and that is what did the trick for her. Making ?music she loves? is the main selling point of a sophomore that took three years to make.

Touching on issues of women empowerment, self-adore, religion, folk-Africa, love and nostalgia, the album is everything, but conventional.

The opening song, which is also the title song, ?Time for Me?, finds the powerful vocalist telling a lover she is done being pushed around.

Definitely not the kind of opening you will expect from a girl who has notoriety for being extremely calm and collected, but sure, the kind of opening you will expect from someone who has grown to know her worth and not ready to be living in anybody?s shadow. The kind of song girls will play when they are having their ?me times?. People who grew before the outburst of this computer-game era think their childhood playtimes were the best times.

Sometimes you can?t help but agree with them to an extent. Judging from the songs they sung during their playtimes, you will want to bite your lips, if all you grew playing with were teddy-bears and Barbies.

That seems to be the feeling Becca wanted to evoke when she made ?Dan Maliyo? with Nigerian singer, Kefee. Both singers introduced themselves and sang their native folk songs with a new refreshing way that will make you have your finger on the ?loop? button as you reminisce your childhood days.

The song that rounded up the threesome run of party anthems, ?follow the leader?, is special for several reasons. First of all, it keeps up with the ?I am just being me? theme of the album and also it is the usually ?humble? girl proclaiming her diva status in a way that doesn?t sound braggadocios or intimidating.

Taking on the image of a dance instructor, it is quite clear Becca is doing more than just teaching a dance. The groove is current but still trendsetting. No female singer in Ghana has done anything quite like it.

The M.I-assisted ?No Away?, which was last official single from the album before its release calls back to mind the days when love was a religion, and it launches the listener to the next phase of the album, what I would call the ?inspirational section?.

The afrosoul-rap song sounds like something both artists decided to do as result of ?chemistry? that aroused while in the studio rather than something done for commercial success. It is beautiful in that regard.

The inspirational ballad, which was initially supposed to be the title song, ?Naked I came?, may sound contradictory to the overhauling theme of the album but when listened for its deepness, it is a celebration of life. It is like saying, ?I have it all but I am not arrogant.?

It seems the Kumasi-born singer is trying to convey the point that, the ?me? she is talking about, is not really the superstar we see, but the strength she has found in her heart. The strength of being a woman is not her clothes but her inner strength (apologies to Eve Ensler?s Vagina Monologues).

If you grew up listening to the Marvin Gaye-Tammi Terrell duets, and you thought no two artists could ever have the ?chemistry?, character and beauty they carried, well, then do a rethinking. Becca and her long-found collaborator, Akwaboah (who wrote her award-winning anthem, ?Daa ke daa?) will prove you wrong. Their duet, ?Nsroma? (star), is one worth-hearing over uncountable number of times.

I can?t wait to see these two on stage sitting next to each other with a piano before them.

Whoever leaked Becca?s gospel, ?Jesus?, did something wrong business-wise, but wise, art-wise. These days, the conflict of business and art makes it hard to draw lines.

Otherwise, what better time is there to release a song as beautiful as ?Jesus? at the moment it was done?

The song itself is not a good business decision. A world music star singing a song that overtly celebrates the founder of her ?religion? may reduce the number of fans you can reach (Christians make up just one-fifth of the world?s population, so you are closing the door to the other four-fifths), but Becca already use ?it is time for me?. She is not holding up on her emotions and beliefs on this album.

Becca has grown stronger on her convictions and Jesus Christ is one of them.

?Take them to church? (Hetty Borngreat?s voice), the always-stay-positive banger, ?Etisen? (how is it ?), brings on board a message very needed especially around a time when depression is claiming more and more lives globally.

It is a perfect way to end the spiritual session of the album as it communicates the state of mind of the singer as she made the album, positive.

An empowered girl can only make up with an equally empowered man, but I had a feeling when Becca was singing about her man having ?a big ego?, she wasn?t REALLY REALLY talking about ego.

Unveiling her naughty-girl instinct is another Becca first. Should I tell you again, this girl is holding nothing back? The seductive singing seem like the song was made to satisfy the curiosity of the men who have ever imagined how Becca would sound behind-closed-doors.

An unusual collaboration with Jay Ghartey carries an equally unusual message.

?Check-check? seems to be giving an advice to people in love on what to look out for before deciding the one they are with is the one being really sought out for. Whether you agree with her tips or not, you will agree she has grown artistically but has not outgrown the world around her. She knows what happens in the lives of ?everyday people?.

?Stomp it up? sounds like an on-the-spot song made while rehearsing her band before her 2010 World Cup performance. I am not saying that only because of the South African groove that the song projects, but also because of the ?we are here to just party? feeling it carries.

The Kaywa-produced 2Face collabo, ?Bad man, Bad girl? is not necessarily a celebration of the bad wagon, but a celebration of two people in love who don?t care about what people say about their love. This song reveals another side of the multiple award-winning diva we are yet to meet; a girl who would stay a girl for life. You know how you thought someone was the strongest person you know until you find out how weak they are in love.

The funny thing, they think they are having fun so it is not being vulnerable. The irony of ?Odo why? to ?Bad man, Bad girl? seems like it is arranged to reflect how relationships start on a beautiful note and ends up ugly and boring.

In ?Bad man, Bad girl?, she mentioned ?My DJ?, in other words, they went out together, then on ?Odo Why?, she is singing about her man going out without her. Lyrics like ?I am not begging for your love? depict how our girl is trying to look strong even though we know she is hurting. No one will give out themselves totally, I guess.

Anytime a positive person is down, they think about the ugly world around them to cheer themselves up. Listening to ?Streets? in the context of the two songs before, that may seem the case, but paying attention to the lyrics gives you the impression Akosua B is really giving us her opinion of happenings around her. From a nostalgic standpoint, she wishes things didn?t get that bad in the world.

Her Yoruba conclusion of the album seems to be the conclusion of the matter.

In spite of how bad things get, crying is not the solution. The message is plain, no matter how bad your situation is, you must be thankful because someone is worse off than you might be thinking.

?Ma Sunkon Mo? is like a perfect conclusion to an already good essay. It could score you a nine out of 10, just because the teacher doesn?t want to give you the full mark.

The four bonus tracks on the album, ?Push? (featuring Trigmatic & King Ayisoba), ?Daa ke daa?, ?Forever? and ?African Woman? give us a sneak peek of what Becca fans were listening to while she took her time to have her time, ?Time 4 Me?. Becca and her collaborators, including her management, led by Kiki Banson pulled a great one with this one.

Send your news stories to [email protected] Follow News Ghana on Google News

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here